Motherhood Reflecting God's Character: Nurture, Seeing, Grace

But don't wait for a title. Don't wait for the perfect opportunity. Step into the opportunity that's right in front of you right now. And for the rest of us, this this matters too. Right? So be humble enough to receive that care and be wise enough to honor it when you see it. Because when we do, we're not just celebrating mothers, we are putting the character of Christ on display in our lives, in this church, in our community, and beyond. So today, we don't just celebrate moms. We celebrate the God they reflect. Amen? [01:08:20] (39 seconds)  #EmbraceOpportunityNow

That's the reality of the sin that we were talking about earlier. What what God designed to be good has been distorted in all of us, which means we don't just need a better example, we need a savior. That's exactly who Jesus is. The scripture tells us in in Colossians one fifteen that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. In other words, that everything we've been talking about, compassion, tenderness, patience, willingness to move toward people in their need, Jesus doesn't just reflect that perfectly. He is that perfectly. [01:04:28] (34 seconds)  #JesusIsTheImage

So again, we should celebrate. But but here's what really matters. If we're if we're being honest, none of us really do a good job at reflecting the character of God. None of us reflect God's character perfectly. Not moms, not dads, not any of us. We don't always nurture. We don't always love well. Sometimes we wound. Sometimes we withdraw. Sometimes we say the thing that we can't get back or take back or or we don't say the thing that we should have. And that's not just a parenting issue. That's a sin issue. [01:03:52] (37 seconds)  #WeAllFallShort

I know some of you don't don't have children and you want them so bad. There is still a deep and meaningful way that that God wants to to express his character through your life. This nurturing, encouraging, life giving presence, it's not limited to biology. It's one of the ways God wants to work through you to impact people and families and communities. And then there's some of you today that are carrying real wounds from your mother. And forgiveness doesn't mean pretending it doesn't hurt, but it does mean releasing it to God so it doesn't define you. [01:03:06] (38 seconds)  #NurtureBeyondBiology

But then there's this other side of God that he communicates throughout scripture. Deuteronomy, God cares for his people like an eagle hovering over her young. In Psalm, God is concerned for people like a midwife cares for a child she's delivered. In Isaiah, God is compared to a a a mom nursing her children whom she won't forget. In in Hosea, God experiences the anger of a mother bear who's been robbed of her cubs. And so through the woman, God communicates a nourishing, encouraging, life giving part of his character. [00:59:40] (38 seconds)  #GodsMotherlyHeart

Let me assure you Hagar reminds us that God sees people in the wilderness too just like he saw Eve in the in the midst standing there in the wreckage of of sin and failure and he still spoke life over her. Mother of all living before children, before fulfillment, before she could see how any of this was gonna happen because that's who God is. He sees beyond where we are and he speaks grace into what we can become. And so your story is not yet finished. [00:46:57] (37 seconds)  #GodSeesYou

And so maybe motherhood isn't just about having children. It's about something deeper, something something God's wired into women. A capacity to nurture, to care, to bring life into spaces, to to encourage and strengthen people. Not in a limiting way of course or or not as though in a box, but but but as one of the ways God reflects his character through women. It's not the only way and it's not always the same way, but it's a meaningful and consistent way that we see his image on display. [00:47:34] (33 seconds)  #WiredToNurture

And through a series of painful decisions made by Abraham and Sarah, Hagar finds herself mistreated and rejected and ultimately she's cast out into the wilderness and she's pregnant. She's feeling alone and she's afraid. She feels unwanted and she's convinced that her story no longer matters. And it's there in the wilderness that God comes to her. Not Abraham and not Sarah, but God himself comes to Hagar and he speaks to her and he reminds her that he sees her. [00:45:48] (34 seconds)  #GodFindsTheRejected